Heard in the Channel: Master Electronics Acquires Electro Sonic

California-based electronics distributor Master Electronics has acquired Toronto, Ontario-based Electro Sonic, which has served the Canadian market for more than 60 years. Electro Sonic will continue to operate under the Electro Sonic name, the companies’ said.

“Electro Sonic has formed tight-knit relationships with over 150 suppliers and thousands of customers since its founding,” according to a statement announcing the acquisition. “Electro Sonic has been building partnerships in the Canadian market since 1952, servicing its customer base by offering personal service, technical expertise, and availability of inventory.”

Master Electronics and Electro Sonic are both members of Global Purchasing’s annual Top 50 Electronics Distributors list. In 2013, Master Electronics ranked 14^th; Electro Sonic ranked 20^th. Both companies will appear in the 2014 Top 50 Electronics Distributors report, to be released in May.

“We are very pleased to have E‐Sonic as part of the Master family. A company with such a long and rich history is hard to come by,” Jamil Nizam, Master Electronics President, said. “Electro Sonic’s reputation of customer focus and deep supplier relationships is something we will be proud to carry on. I am confident that with our resources and commitment to inventory Electro Sonic will carry on as one of the premier Canadian electronic component distributors.”

In other industry news:

Electronic component manufacturers, distributors, and manufacturers’ representatives head to Las Vegas next month for the Electronics Distribution Show—EDS 2014—sponsored by The Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) and the Electronics Representatives Association International (ERA). The event will be held at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, May 5-9.
Avnet Electronics Marketing and Microsemi opened two application design centers that deliver mainstream system solutions using Microsemi SmartFustion2 and IGLOO2 as well as other leading-edge Microsemi products. The design centers are located in San Jose and Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Isola Group, which makes copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepreg materials used to fabricate advanced multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs), launched a new certification program for PCB fabricators. The program is open to qualifying fabricators in the United States able to demonstrate the ability to process such high-speed digital materials as Isola’s I-Tera MT and I-Speed.
The USA Science & Engineering Festival will take place April 26 and 27 in Washington, DC. The festival is a “national grassroots effort to advance STEM education and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.”
Quest Components signed a distribution agreement with American Semiconductor to represent its full lines of rugged high-reliability high-power standard, fast and super-fast recovery rectifiers; low-power and bridge rectifiers; diacs; IGBT modules; SCRs; Triacs; TVS; and Zener diodes.